Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of application installation and more particularly to application installation and configuration for different computing environments.
Description of the Related Art
Though often overlooked, application installation is a prerequisite to interacting with a software application. Specifically, in most circumstances, an application can be properly executed only subsequent to the completion of a successful installation process. At the minimum, a typical software application installation requires a transfer of files to the file structure of a computing system, and the configuration of the computing system to particularly interact with the software application. Ordinarily, the configuration of the computing system includes the addition or modification of registry settings, the addition or modification of entries to one or more initialization files, or both.
Typically, software programs include as a component installer logic having program code enabled to substantially automate the installation process. In addition, computer operating systems occasionally incorporate installer logic for use in installing drivers or other software. Likewise, many commercial software offerings are provided with companion updater logic supporting self-updating operations. Generally, the updater logic can be included as a component of the software program itself, or the updater logic can be provided externally as a third-party tool.
Software programs used to install new software, to install updates to software, and to uninstall (remove) software are referred to herein as “installer applications”. The term “installer applications” is intended to encompass both stand-alone software programs that can be used to install a variety of software applications (for example, such as installers that may be provided with an operating system), as well as software programs that are adapted to install only a single software application (and may be integrated with the installation file package for that software application). Installer applications, when run, implement a software installation process.
First time installations of enterprise software often can be complicated by the need to custom-tailor the installation to accommodate the minute details of the end user environment. Known solutions to this problem either rely heavily upon the installing user having technical knowledge of the target environment, or rely heavily upon assumptions based upon what limited environment information can be gleaned from the current system. The high likelihood of human or computer error in both circumstances can lead to incomplete or improper installations.